A demagogue like Donald Trump cares not a whit about books and libraries or, based on Sunday night’s debate, even a modicum of decency. But a Trump reference is entirely apropos here.

The latest wealth figures—for the 400 richest billionaires in the United States, including Gates and Amazon CEO and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos—highlight the “savage inequalities” of American society as a whole. Along with anti-Obama racism and other bigotry, the inequalities explain the rise of an opportunistic firebrand like Trump. His locker-room talk is obscene. But how about the inequalities off which he thrives?

Would you believe, the billionaires in the top ten are together worth $523 billion. Along with others, I’ve called for $15-$20 billion to be raised in five years for a national digital library endowment as a way to help level the playing field a little.

Just one of the ten richest billionaires—I’m especially thinking of you, Mr. Gates—could painlessly chip in a billion dollars to get the endowment off to a start, with more to come. Here’s a chance to be a positive role model for others in the American elite. I’m grateful for your anti-malaria work, your other global charities, and your contributions to wire up schools and libraries. You’ve been far more generous than the typical man of wealth. But let’s expand, not shrink, your library gifts.

I know. Some fund raisers and wealth advisors would regard the B word as less genteel than something like “extremely high net worth individuals.” But so be it. Do the math. The $523 billion could pay for more than 25 national digital endowments.

That isn’t what I’m suggesting, since I’m aware of the practical side, such as the need to retain enough wealth to invest in existing and new businesses. But you get the idea. A “Billion Dollar Donors Club” for the endowment could happen without the members sinking into abject poverty and without their grievously depriving their companies of capital. A club member could even spread the billion or more over the five years rather than donate everything at once. What’s more, Gates ideally could talk up the endowment as a prime destination for already-committed money from the Gates Giving Pledge.

Why an endowment is the securest path to financial security for our libraries

Granted, some of these library-and-book related activities are happening already, but we need to scale up. Let me also note that some billionaires such as Warren Buffett have admirably called for reform of the U.S. tax system, and that could help in time. But even if the Democrats regain control of both the House and Senate and impose new taxes on the super wealth, fiscal hawks may succeed in rolling them back in the future.

The surest path to financial security for libraries is an endowment funded by philanthropists as well as taxes. Needless to say, these benefactors need not come just from the top ten. I’ve merely focused on the people at the top to show the size of their vast concentration of wealth. Just to put the $523 billion in perspective, the wealthiest 400 people in the U.S. are together worth $2.4 trillion.

Pros in charge, please, and keep the politics out

Along the way, may I emphasize the need for professionals rather than billionaires to run the endowment (which, as I personally see it, could start as a nonprofit to allow experimentation and evolve into a government agency)?

Librarians without political agendas should choose books. And fund-raising professionals, not politicians, should handle the fund raising so prospects do not feel squeezed by powerful people in office. Billionaires with appropriate backgrounds and interests could help the initiative get underway, assist with fundraising and aid the endowment in other respects.

I don’t want libraries to get lost in the shuffle, but if this business model also ends up being used for other worthy causes, then fine. One way or another, we need to address our great inequalities, or eventually a shrewder Trump-style demagogue with a less distracting libido could reach the Oval Office. Tech-enriched billionaires, especially, should keep that in mind. Self-driving vehicles will throw millions of truck drivers out of work, for example.

Whether through entitlements or greater opportunities for self improvements—ideally more of the latter—we must not forget the displaced. The expected Clinton victory will simply buy us more time. If Secretary Clinton wants to show that she cares about the whole country, not just Wall Street, she would do well to endorse the endowment idea.

Meanwhile she should keep in mind that existing public library endowments total only several billion, according to Wilmington Trust, N.A., and that Deborah Jacobs, director of the Gates Global Libraries initiative, says no Gates Foundation funding is intended to be eternal. The needs of library patrons, though, go on forever. With or without Gates’s cooperation, ideally with, the U.S. deserves a national digital library endowment. Other countries, moreover, could start their own.

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Published by David Rothman

David Rothman is the founder and publisher of the TeleRead e-book site and cofounder of LibraryCity.org. He is also author of The Solomon Scandals novel and six tech-related books on topics ranging from the Internet to laptops. Passionate on digital divide issues, he is now pushing for the creation of a national digital library endowment.
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